ChoosingBattles&INTERVIEW BY ROSS PFUNDPHOTOGRAPHY BY KIP MALONEShannon L. Kennedy, of The Kennedy Law Firmin Albuquerque, on everything from civil rightscases to outrunning moose in AlaskaQ: You work with your husband, Joseph.What’s it like to practice with your spouse?

A: It’s wonderful. We run our own law firm,
so one or both of us are working while the
other one is there for the children. Also he
is just an excellent attorney, and it’s good
to just have a good law partner, a good life
partner. We tried the Ellis case together.

Q: Tell me about that case.A: It was a unique situation becauseKenneth Ellis’ sister was a nurse at theveteran’s hospital where he was treated.

He had thrown his body on a buddy [while
serving in Iraq] and basically taken shrapnel
from an IED. He fought to save his own leg
and was walking, and his sister witnessed
him recover from the physical injuries. He
was still suffering from the psychiatric
injuries of PTSD.

[One day, he] was standing on a streetcorner in front of a 7-Eleven with a gun tohis own head, saying to officers, “I’m nota threat to civilians or officers.” Since inhis other hand he was calling his mother,[we heard that] the officer, Brett Lampiris-Tremba who shot him once in the neck, [saidafterward], “Was that me?”And we had cab reports showing thatfrom the time Kenneth Ellis’ vehicle wasstopped until the time he was shot wasapproximately nine minutes. So it wasclear that the officer who shot him wasviolating training on how to de-escalatesituations with people who are in a mentalhealth crisis.

The sole beneficiary of Kenneth Ellis III’sestate was his son, Kenneth Ellis IV, whowas 5 years old when his father was killed.He is an adorable, adorable little boy, who